USCL Power Rankings Week 10 - Final

The final regular season week of the United States Chess League has finished, and with that, I give to you the final week of the power rankings.

The only big change was Miami dropping to 11th. Also notable is that Manhattan is ranked more powerful than Boston, even though Boston is a higher seed in the playoff structure.

Here is how the final week looks.

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Chicago	1.000	0
2 -	Philadelphia	0.955	0
3 -	Los Angeles	0.859	0
4 -	New York	0.838	0
5 -	Manhattan	0.831	0
6 -	Boston	0.815	+1
7 -	San Francisco	0.812	+1
8 -	Dallas	0.811	+2
9 -	New England	0.800	0
10 -	Arizona	0.777	+1
11 -	Miami	0.771	-5
12 -	Seattle	0.685	+1
13 -	Baltimore	0.683	-1
14 -	Carolina	0.651	0
15 -	New Jersey	0.645	0
16 -	St. Louis	0.616	0

Good luck to all the teams in the playoffs!

USCL Power Rankings Week 9

The penultimate week of the power rankings are here. The top 5 stay the same, although New York and Los Angeles swapped 3rd and 4th.

Miami moves up three spots at the expense of Dallas, which falls three spots. Indeed, Miami is in 6th place, only a hair behind Manhattan.

Comparing to the actual USCL standings, the power rankings are very similar, except that Manhattan is ranked more powerful than Boston, even though Boston is ahead in the standings.

As a side note, summing the power scores, the West is rated slightly more powerful than the East.

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Chicago	1.000	0
2 -	Philadelphia	0.914	0
3 -	Los Angeles	0.850	+1
4 -	New York	0.837	-1
5 -	Manhattan	0.788	0
6 -	Miami	0.788	+3
7 -	Boston	0.777	+1
8 -	San Francisco	0.773	-2
9 -	New England	0.763	+1
10 -	Dallas	0.754	-3
11 -	Arizona	0.741	0
12 -	Baltimore	0.681	0
13 -	Seattle	0.652	+1
14 -	Carolina	0.648	-1
15 -	New Jersey	0.644	0
16 -	St. Louis	0.607	0

USCL Power Rankings Week 8

Very little change at the top of the power rankings this week - the top four teams maintain their position. Manhattan vaults over Dallas and San Francisco to end up in fifth.

Boston and Miami also both make big jumps, while Baltimore falls four places to twelfth.

New Jersey drags itself out of the basement, and St. Louis takes New Jersey's place there.

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Chicago	1.000	0
2 -	Philadelphia	0.847	0
3 -	New York	0.835	0
4 -	Los Angeles	0.811	0
5 -	Manhattan	0.764	+2
6 -	Dallas	0.734	-1
7 -	San Francisco	0.715	-1
8 -	Boston	0.708	+3
9 -	Miami	0.697	+3
10 -	New England	0.693	-1
11 -	Arizona	0.685	-1
12 -	Baltimore	0.671	-4
13 -	Carolina	0.627	0
14 -	Seattle	0.620	0
15 -	New Jersey	0.565	+1
16 -	St. Louis	0.564	-1

USCL Power Rankings Week 7

The power rankings are finally here this week!

No big changes at the top and the bottom. Chicago and its perfect record outpace the rest of the field, with Philadelphia and New York in second and third.

There is a logjam in the middle of the Eastern Division standings, with four teams having 3.0 match points, with their tiebreaking game points ranking them as follows: New England, Baltimore, Carolina, Boston. However, the power rankings say that the most powerful team in of these four is not New England, but Baltimore instead, and indeed, Boston is more powerful than Carolina.

Until next week!

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Chicago	1.000	0
2 -	Philadelphia	0.860	0
3 -	New York	0.845	0
4 -	Los Angeles	0.794	+1
5 -	Dallas	0.745	+2
6 -	San Francisco	0.743	0
7 -	Manhattan	0.739	-3
8 -	Baltimore	0.707	0
9 -	New England	0.700	+5
10 -	Arizona	0.681	+1
11 -	Boston	0.678	-2
12 -	Miami	0.671	-2
13 -	Carolina	0.664	-1
14 -	Seattle	0.653	-1
15 -	St. Louis	0.594	0
16 -	New Jersey	0.555	0

USCL Power Rankings Week 6

Because interdivisional week just completed, the power rankings are now combined into one table.

Unsurprisingly, Chicago holds the top spot, with a huge gap between them and the second place team. Indeed, teams two, three, and four are all from the Eastern Division, with Philadelphia barely edging out New York for second. Los Angeles is more powerful than San Francisco, even though the Mechanics are ahead of the Vibe in the official standings. In the battle of the basement, the Knockouts fall below the Arch Bishops.

COMBINED POWER RANKINGS

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Chicago	1.000	0
2 -	Philadelphia	0.837	0
3 -	New York	0.836	0
4 -	Manhattan	0.789	0
5 -	Los Angeles	0.774	0
6 -	San Francisco	0.760	0
7 -	Dallas	0.748	0
8 -	Baltimore	0.706	0
9 -	Boston	0.697	0
10 -	Miami	0.693	0
11 -	Arizona	0.678	0
12 -	Carolina	0.661	0
13 -	Seattle	0.661	0
14 -	New England	0.657	0
15 -	St. Louis	0.579	0
16 -	New Jersey	0.560	0

USCL Power Rankings Week 5

Exciting baseball tonight. My Orioles (always #1 to me) pulled off a great victory against the Red Sox (my #2 team). Sox collapsed, and the Rays have more of a chance to crush the hapless and worthless Yankees.

Oh wait, this is chess.

So, week 5 in the power rankings show the continued dominance of Chicago in the West. The California teams are closely knotted in second and third, Dallas and Miami are separated by a mere 0.004 in fourth and fifth, and Seattle and Miami by an even smaller 0.001 in sixth and seventh.

In the East, the surprising Philadelphia Inventors grab the top spot in the power rankings, with the NYC teams (Knights and Applesauce) following in second and third. But notice that the power differential between first place Philadelphia and cellar-dwelling eighth place New Jersey is very close to the differential between the first (Chicago) and fourth (Dallas) place teams in the West. This suggests that the East teams are closer in strength to each other, while the West teams are more variable.

EASTERN DIVISION

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Philadelphia	1.000	+4
2 -	New York	0.981	-1
3 -	Manhattan	0.951	-1
4 -	Baltimore	0.847	0
5 -	Carolina	0.831	+1
6 -	Boston	0.826	-3
7 -	New England	0.769	+1
8 -	New Jersey	0.705	-1

WESTERN DIVISION

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Chicago	1.000	0
2 -	San Francisco	0.780	0
3 -	Los Angeles	0.777	+2
4 -	Dallas	0.753	-1
5 -	Miami	0.671	-1
6 -	Seattle	0.668	0
7 -	Arizona	0.614	0
8 -	St. Louis	0.568	0

Next week is Inter-division Week, and the power rankings will be combined into one list.

USCL Power Rankings Week 4

Power rankings this week show a lot of movement in the Eastern Division, but holding steady at the top of the Western Division.

In the East, the New York Knights take the top spot away from Boston, which dropped to third. The New Jersey Knockouts move out of the cellar, leaving the Nor'easters in that dubious spot, but just barely, with only 0.005 Power Points separating them.

In the West, the Chicago Blaze remain at the top, but with an astounding 0.220 Power Points separating them from the Mechanics, which remain number two. Despite Finegold's excellent individual record, the Arch Bishops remain at the bottom.

Eastern Division

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	New York	1.000	+2
2 -	Manhattan	0.944	0
3 -	Boston	0.931	-2
4 -	Baltimore	0.912	+2
5 -	Philadelphia	0.902	0
6 -	Carolina	0.831	-2
7 -	New Jersey	0.669	+1
8 -	New England	0.664	-1

Western Division

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Chicago	1.000	0
2 -	San Francisco	0.780	0
3 -	Dallas	0.777	0
4 -	Miami	0.753	+2
5 -	Los Angeles	0.671	-1
6 -	Seattle	0.668	+1
7 -	Arizona	0.614	-2
8 -	St. Louis	0.568	0

Until next week!

USCL Power Rankings Week 3

United States Chess League, Power rankings. Week 3... Not much surprise this week, as the power rankings exactly match the standings.

Power is pretty evenly spaced in the Eastern Division, except at the top, where Manhattan barely trails Boston.

Chicago sits atop the Western Division, followed by San Francisco and Dallas, with a tightly spaced pack from fourth to seventh.

Eastern Division

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Boston	1.000	+1
2 -	Manhattan	0.973	+2.5
3 -	New York	0.889	-2
4 -	Carolina	0.827	-2
5 -	Philadelphia	0.782	+1
6 -	Baltimore	0.728	-1.5
7 -	New England	0.667	0
8 -	New Jersey	0.524	0

Western Division

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Chicago	1.000	0
2 -	San Francisco	0.904	+0.5
3 -	Dallas	0.836	+1
4 -	Los Angeles	0.712	-1.5
5 -	Arizona	0.671	+1
6 -	Miami	0.658	+2
7 -	Seattle	0.630	-2
8 -	St. Louis	0.507	-1

Until next week!

USCL Power Rankings Week 2

Welcome to the 2011 USCL season.

Here are the weekly power rankings for the conclusion of Week 2. Note: Week 1 power rankings were not published (the lack of data makes them rather silly).

The methods to calculate power rankings are the same as in previous years. Until there is inter-divisional play, the rankings will remain separate.

Without further ado...

Eastern Division

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	New York	1.000	+1
2 -	Carolina	0.963	0
3 -	Boston	0.863	-1
4-5 -	Manhattan	0.795	+0.5
4-5 -	Baltimore	0.795	+2.5
6 -	Philadelphia	0.727	-1.5
7 -	New England	0.627	0
8 -	New Jersey	0.590	-1

Western Division

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	Chicago	1.000	0
2-3 -	Los Angeles	0.797	+2
2-3 -	San Francisco	0.797	0
4 -	Dallas	0.786	+0.5
5 -	Seattle	0.759	+3
6 -	Arizona	0.649	-3.5
7 -	Saint Louis	0.535	-0.5
8 -	Miami	0.508	-1.5

USCL Power Rankings: Final Week

The final week of the United States Chess League regular season has come and gone, and the playoffs are set. The power rankings only are for the regular season, so the rankings below are the final ones for this year.

The last week really shook up the rankings, with St. Louis plummeting four places and other teams jockeying for a better position. In the end, the newcomers, the New England Nor'easters are far above the remainder of the field. Interestingly the bottom three places of the rankings are filled by Eastern Division Teams.

Before the 2010 list, let's look at where teams stood in the 2009 list.

Power Rankings 2009 (End of Regular Season)

1 -	New Jersey (8.0 - 1st East)	1.000
2 -	Seattle (7.5 - 1st West)	0.953
3 -	Boston (7.5 - 2nd East)	0.929
4 -	Arizona (6.0 - 3rd West)	0.901
5 -	San Francisco (6.5 - 2nd West)	0.894
6 -	Miami (6.0 - 4th West)	0.879
7 -	New York (5.0 - 3rd East)	0.853
8 -	Chicago (4.0 - 5th West)	0.764
9 -	Philadelphia (4.0 - 5th East)	0.735
10 -	Dallas (3.5 - 6th West)	0.730
11 -	Queens (3.5 - 6th East)	0.726
12 -	Baltimore (4.5 - 4th East)	0.724
13 -	Tennessee (2.0 - 7th West)	0.647
14 -	Carolina (2.0 - 7th East)	0.622

How some teams fortunes have changed in a year, especially New Jersey which went from the top in 2009 to near the bottom this year.

Therefore, here is the final power rankings for the 2010 season.

2010 USCL Power Rankings
End of Regular Season

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	New England	1.000	0
2 -	Boston	0.886	+1
3 -	Arizona	0.857	-1
4 -	Chicago	0.793	+2
5 -	New York	0.793	-1
6 -	Baltimore	0.787	+1
7 -	Miami	0.771	+1
8 -	Seattle	0.760	+2
9 -	St. Louis	0.743	-4
10 -	Los Angeles	0.740	+3
11 -	San Francisco	0.708	-2
12 -	Philadelphia	0.697	+2
13 -	Dallas	0.686	-2
14 -	New Jersey	0.677	-2
15 -	Manhattan	0.638	0
16 -	Carolina	0.607	0

The top eight teams in the power rankings are also the top eight teams in the playoffs. Good luck to all of them.

USCL 2010 Power Rankings Week 9

A little late... okay a LOT late, but I was away.

Notable about this is that New England has completely pulled away from the pack.

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	New England	1.000	0
2 -	Arizona	0.886	0
3 -	Boston	0.857	0
4 -	New York	0.793	0
5 -	St. Louis	0.793	+2
6 -	Chicago	0.787	0
7 -	Baltimore	0.771	-2
8 -	Miami	0.760	+1
9 -	San Francisco	0.743	-1
10 -	Seattle	0.740	+1
11 -	Dallas	0.708	-1
12 -	New Jersey	0.697	+2
13 -	Los Angeles	0.686	-1
14 -	Philadelphia	0.677	+1
15 -	Manhattan	0.638	-2
16 -	Carolina	0.607	0

USCL 2010 Power Rankings Week 8

The power rankings show that New England is clearly the class of the league, with a huge lead in strength over second place Arizona. Baltimore and Dallas were the big gainers this week, while San Francisco took a big tumble.

Only a whisker separates Boston and New York, and when these teams likely play in the playoffs in the first round, it should be a close match.

Not even visible to the human eye (only the fourth decimal place) separates Chicago and St. Louis!

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	New England	1.000	0
2 -	Arizona	0.914	0
3 -	Boston	0.846	0
4 -	New York	0.844	0
5 -	Baltimore	0.810	+2
6 -	Chicago	0.799	0
7 -	St. Louis	0.799	+1
8 -	San Francisco	0.794	-3
9 -	Miami	0.769	0
10 -	Dallas	0.728	+3
11 -	Seattle	0.703	-1
12 -	Los Angeles	0.692	-1
13 -	Manhattan	0.679	-1
14 -	New Jersey	0.658	+1
15 -	Philadelphia	0.651	-1
16 -	Carolina	0.632	0

USCL 2010 Power Rankings Week 7

Only three weeks left in the season, and the races are tightening.

New England keeps the top spot in the rankings, while Arizona jumps four places to number two. Miami also makes a big jump up to number nine. Several pairs of teams are almost indistinguishably close in their score. San Francisco and Chicago are five and six; Miami and Seattle are nine and ten; Manhattan, Dallas, and Philadelphia are twelve, thirteen, and fourteen.

Will New England keep their top spot in the rankings at the end of the regular season? Only time will tell.

Rank	Team	Score	Change
1 -	New England	1.000	0
2 -	Arizona	0.912	+4
3 -	Boston	0.889	-1
4 -	New York	0.878	-1
5 -	San Francisco	0.849	0
6 -	Chicago	0.845	-2
7 -	Baltimore	0.803	0
8 -	St. Louis	0.771	+2
9 -	Miami	0.756	+4
10 -	Seattle	0.755	-2
11 -	Los Angeles	0.739	-2
12 -	Manhattan	0.686	+3
13 -	Dallas	0.685	-2
14 -	Philadelphia	0.683	-2
15 -	New Jersey	0.668	-1
16 -	Carolina	0.607	0

USCL Power Rankings Week 6

Because it was interdivisional week, we are able to combine the Power Rankings into a complete list. There are some interesting things to note.

• The top three and the bottom three teams are all from the Eastern division.
• Chicago, San Francisco, and Arizona are all very tightly bunched for 4th, 5th, and 6th.
• Dallas, Philadelphia, and Miami are extremely tightly bunched as well.

Rank	Team	Score
1 -	New England	1.000
2 -	Boston	0.927
3 -	New York	0.913
4 -	Chicago	0.905
5 -	San Francisco	0.901
6 -	Arizona	0.894
7 -	Baltimore	0.856
8 -	Seattle	0.766
9 -	Los Angeles	0.739
10 -	St. Louis	0.727
11 -	Dallas	0.718
12 -	Philadelphia	0.712
13 -	Miami	0.710
14 -	New Jersey	0.643
15 -	Manhattan	0.628
16 -	Carolina	0.562

Can New England hold the top spot next week? Will any of the Western teams break away from the pack?

Only time will tell...

USCL 2010 Power Rankings Week 5

Only changes at this top this week in the United States Chess League Power Rankings.

Despite that they are in second place in the match standings, the New York Knights have passed the New England Nor'Easters, and now are atop the Eastern Division Power Rankings. The Knights' game points were key in this.

In the Western Division, an surprising tie occurs at the top of the standings. Arizona and San Francisco share the top spot. Both have played the same five opponents, and they have identical match and game points.

Next week is the inter-divisional week, and afterwards, the power rankings will be combined into a single list.

Note to the commissioner! The "color choice" for the USCL finals ought to be decided by the records of the divisions in the inter-divisional matches. If the Eastern Division wins more matches than the Western Division, the Eastern Division champ should get color choice in the USCL finals, and vice versa. Game points would be the next tiebreaker. What do you think, Mr. Commish?

	Eastern Division		Change
1 -	New York	1.000	up 1
2 -	New England	0.974	dn 1
3 -	Boston	0.897	n/c
4 -	Baltimore	0.809	n/c
5 -	Philadelphia	0.738	n/c
6 -	New Jersey	0.702	n/c
7 -	Manhattan	0.621	n/c
8 -	Carolina	0.579	n/c
	Western Division		Change
1 - tie	Arizona	1.000	n/c
1 - tie	San Francisco	1.000	up 1
3 -	Chicago	0.962	n/c
4 -	Los Angeles	0.814	n/c
5 -	St. Louis	0.790	n/c
6 -	Seattle	0.748	n/c
7 -	Dallas	0.739	n/c
8 -	Miami	0.668	n/c

USCL 2010 Power Rankings Week 4

Week 4 of the power ratings of the United States Chess League.

In the East, New York is only a hair behind New England for the top spot. Boston overtakes Baltimore, and Philadelphia overtakes New Jersey.

In the West, Arizona is clearly in the lead. San Francisco overtakes Chicago, while Los Angeles makes the biggest jump, vaulting over both Saint Louis and Seattle.

	Eastern Division
1 -	New England	1.000
2 -	New York	0.998
3 -	Boston	0.895
4 -	Baltimore	0.881
5 -	Philadelphia	0.790
6 -	New Jersey	0.749
7 -	Manhattan	0.624
8 -	Carolina	0.579
	Western Division
1 -	Arizona	1.000
2 -	San Francisco	0.895
3 -	Chicago	0.814
4 -	Los Angeles	0.783
5 -	St. Louis	0.718
6 -	Seattle	0.688
7 -	Dallas	0.674
8 -	Miami	0.596

Until next week!

USCL 2010 Power Rankings Week 3

Power rankings for this week reflect pretty closely the standings for each division. That's not too surprising...

What to notice, however, is the closeness of some of the teams in the rankings.

In the east, New York, Baltimore, and Boston are about equidistant from each other, while New Jersey and Philadelphia are close to one another.

In the west, Chicago is only a hair behind Arizona, despite being a 1/2 point behind in the match standings.

	Eastern Division
1 -	New England	1.000
2 -	New York	0.922
3 -	Baltimore	0.883
4 -	Boston	0.835
5 -	New Jersey	0.739
6 -	Philadelphia	0.720
7 -	Manhattan	0.618
8 -	Carolina	0.522
	Western Division
1 -	Arizona	1.000
2 -	Chicago	0.990
3 -	San Francisco	0.902
4 -	St. Louis	0.761
5 -	Seattle	0.747
6 -	Los Angeles	0.685
7 -	Dallas	0.660
8 -	Miami	0.556

Soon, there will be the return of the USCL rating list, with an updated algorithm to calculate more precise ratings!

USCL 2010 Power Ratings Week 2

Power rankings for week 2. Remember, these are done in each division, but after the interdivisional week (week 6), they will be combined into one list.

Highest score a team can get is 1.000, and the difference between teams' power is reflected in their score.

Eastern Division

1 -	New England	1.000
2 -	Baltimore	0.867
3 -	New York	0.842
4 -	Philadelphia	0.788
5 -	New Jersey	0.783
6 -	Boston	0.729
7 -	Manhattan	0.703
8 -	Carolina	0.571

Western Division

1 -	San Francisco	1.000
2 -	Arizona	0.875
3 -	Dallas	0.757
4 -	Chicago	0.749
5 -	Los Angeles	0.674
6 -	Miami	0.606
7 -	St. Louis	0.589
8 -	Seattle	0.538

USCL 2010 Power Ratings Week 1

Here are the inaugural power rankings for the USCL, Week 1, 2010. Because of the lack of inter-divisional play this year, they will be in two divisions, until after week 6, where they will be combined into a single list.

Note, after only one week, these power rankings mean close to nothing, but I suppose they are fun anyway. Ties were broken by where the team's stood at the end of Week 10 last season.

Week 2 should have more meaningful results, and by Week 4, they should be pretty close to reality.

Eastern Division

1 -	New York	1.000
2 -	Philadelphia	0.942
3 -	Manhattan	0.913
4 -	New England	0.913
5 -	Carolina	0.625
6 -	Baltimore	0.625
7 -	New Jersey	0.596
8 -	Boston	0.538

Western Division

1 -	San Francisco	1.000
2 -	Arizona	0.941
3 -	Chicago	0.941
4 -	Los Angeles	0.941
5 -	Seattle	0.644
6 -	Miami	0.644
7 -	St. Louis	0.634
8 -	Dallas	0.584

Until next week!

United States Chess League Final Power Rankings, 2009

United States Chess League
Final Power Rankings, 2009

1 -	New Jersey (8.0 - 1st East)	1.000
2 -	Seattle (7.5 - 1st West)	0.953
3 -	Boston (7.5 - 2nd East)	0.929
4 -	Arizona (6.0 - 3rd West)	0.901
5 -	San Francisco (6.5 - 2nd West)	0.894
6 -	Miami (6.0 - 4th West)	0.879
7 -	New York (5.0 - 3rd East)	0.853
8 -	Chicago (4.0 - 5th West)	0.764
9 -	Philadelphia (4.0 - 5th East)	0.735
10 -	Dallas (3.5 - 6th West)	0.730
11 -	Queens (3.5 - 6th East)	0.726
12 -	Baltimore (4.5 - 4th East)	0.724
13 -	Tennessee (2.0 - 7th West)	0.647
14 -	Carolina (2.0 - 7th East)	0.622

Good luck to all the playoff teams, and come back next year for USCL Power Rankings 2010!